Mad Madame LaLaurie: New Orleans' Most Famous Murderess Revealed (True Crime)

On April 10, 1834, firefighters smashed through a padlocked attic door in the burning home of Creole society couple Delphine and Louis Lalaurie. The horrible discovery of chained and mutilated slaves spawned a legend that has endured for over 150 years. But what really happened in the Lalaurie home? Who was "Mad Madame Lalaurie," and what motivated her to commit such ghastly atrocities, if she indeed did? Historian Victoria Cosner Love and author Lorelei Shannon uncover the truth behind one of New Orleans's most famous stories and one of America's most haunted houses. The truth behind the legend of New Orleans’ infamous slave owner, madwoman, and murderess, portrayed in the anthology series, American Horror Story. On April 10, 1834, firefighters smashed through a padlocked attic door in the burning Royal Street mansion of Creole society couple Delphine and Louis Lalaurie. In the billowing smoke and flames they made an appalling discovery: the remains of Madame Lalaurie’s chained, starved, and mutilated slaves. This house of horrors in the French Quarter spawned a legend that has endured for more than one-hundred-and-fifty years. But what actually happened in the Lalaurie home? Rumors about her atrocities spread as fast as the fire. But verifiable facts were scarce. Lalaurie wouldn’t answer questions. She disappeared, leaving behind one of the French Quarter’s ghastliest crime scenes, and what is considered to be one of America’s most haunted houses. In Mad Madame Lalaurie, Victoria Cosner Love and Lorelei Shannon “shed light on what is fact and what is purely fiction in a tale that’s still told nightly on the streets of New Orleans” (Deep South Magazine). The truth behind the legend of New Orleans’ infamous slave owner, madwoman, and murderess, portrayed in the anthology series, American Horror Story . On April 10, 1834, firefighters smashed through a padlocked attic door in the burning Royal Street mansion of Creole society couple Delphine and Louis Lalaurie. In the billowing smoke and flames they made an appalling discovery: the remains of Madame Lalaurie’s chained, starved, and mutilated slaves. This house of horrors in the French Quarter spawned a legend that has endured for more than one-hundred-and-fifty years. But what actually happened in the Lalaurie home? Rumors about her atrocities spread as fast as the fire. But verifiable facts were scarce. Lalaurie wouldn’t answer questions. She disappeared, leaving behind one of the French Quarter’s ghastliest crime scenes, and what is considered to be one of America’s most haunted houses. In Mad Madame Lalaurie , Victoria Cosner Love and Lorelei Shannon “shed light on what is fact and what is purely fiction in a tale that’s still told nightly on the streets of New Orleans” ( Deep South Magazine ).

On April 10, 1834, firefighters smashed through a padlocked attic door in the burning home of Creole society couple Delphine and Louis Lalaurie. The horrible discovery of chained and mutilated slaves spawned a legend that has endured for over 150 years. But what really happened in the Lalaurie home? Who was Mad Madame Lalaurie, and what motivated her to commit such ghastly atrocities, if in fact she really did? Historian Victoria Cosner Love and author Lorelei Shannon uncover the truth behind one of New Orleans' most famous stories and one of America's most haunted houses.

Historians Victoria Cosner Love and author Lorelei Shannon uncover the truth behind one of New Orleans' most famous stories and one of America's most haunted houses. On April 10, 1834 Firefighters smashed through a padlocked attic door in the burning home of Creole society couple Delphine and Louis Lalaurie. The horrible discovery of chained and mutilated slaves spawned a legend that has endured for over 150 years. But what really happened in the Lalaurie home? Who was "Mad Madame Lalaurie," and what motivated her to commit such ghastly atrocities, if in fact she really did? The legend Delphine's early life and first marriage Delphine's second marriage Louis Lalaurie and the "catastrophe of 1834" Exiled in Paris Delphine Lalaurie's last years Madame Lalaurie in popular history and culture What if it's all true? Our conclusions Myths v. facts And what about the haunted house? A biography of Delphine Lalaurie, a famous murderer from New Orleans.